Gökhan Altıner writes...The Scent of Black Money and MIT...

In the Iskele (Trigomo) region, an apartment is finding buyers at £200,000. Who would have thought that one day Iskele would be worth so much? I went there for vacation this summer and witnessed the construction boom.

They have gone crazy, literally. Their roads have been traversed by so many heavy vehicles that the main road in Iskele is in a wretched state. The asphalt has turned into dry gravel. And there's no other road. The road needs to be asphalted again, but if they close the road to do this, transportation will come to a complete halt. Anyway, let's get back to our topic. The headlines of the newspapers were adorned with a significant issue yesterday: "Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) is monitoring the real estate sold in the TRNC." This is a very important issue.

Serious money is circulating in the real estate market in Iskele, and someone is not becoming a millionaire but a billionaire. There is no issue of Jews buying and selling, but yes, Jews are buying real estate, but it's being sold to Germans, Iranians, and Russians. These places have become a separate republic. Finding a Turkish employee working in the markets is almost impossible.

If they open their own schools, own businesses, and own markets soon, don't be surprised. That's where it's going. On this side, my government is supposed to build social housing for young people on paper.

Last week, I asked Finance Minister Özdemir Berova, "Are you really going to build social housing?" He said in a serious tone, "Yes, we will." But when? 

The government will build how many social houses, make how many young people happy, what will be the payment plan, will those who really need it be able to buy? These are all unanswered questions. The government should adopt a more open policy on this issue.

Returning to Iskele: It's like a movie, someone is directing it, and it is said that there are foreign partners of local companies.

In fact, such large projects cannot be done without external financing. No title deed is issued; a contract is made, and real estate is sold through this. A certain segment becomes rich, and the one who sells the land loses. There is no land left in the region, and agricultural land is being sold, as reported many times.

Indeed, the question of whether money laundering is taking place comes to mind. Anything can happen. We are still having fun with this matter. Some even say, "Let the real estate sector stop."

But it is not normal for so many uncontrolled sales to take place, and the government needs to put a stop to this.

Turkish Cypriots are no longer buying real estate. There is no difference between Girne and Iskele. No Turkish Cypriot can buy a house from either Girne or Iskele. This business is over.

So where will this real estate madness stop, who will stop it, who will control these prices and, consequently, this population; these are all important questions. Thousands of foreigners are settling in the TRNC, and the children of these people are going to schools that provide education in Turkish.

They understand nothing from education, and you will see that after a while, they will demand schools in their own mother tongue; maybe the state will have to provide this. After a while, foreign teachers will be employed.

In short, this situation is not sustainable. Serious money is being made from land sales, and serious money is being used to build houses.

The real estate sector in the Iskele region is now out of the control of the state. The government needs to intervene in this matter. Most importantly, someone may be laundering their money. Intelligence will intervene in this and investigate.

I guess that Turkey will put a brake on this real estate madness through the government, and some things will change; they must change. While someone is making as much money as a mule's load, the homeland is slipping away, and we are just watching.

Now tell me, if the government gives a 48.5% cost-of-living allowance (as it was announced last week), what will change if it does, and what will change if it doesn't?